The Cry of the Lake by Charlie Tyler

Author:Charlie Tyler [Tyler, Charlie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction & Literature
Publisher: darkstroke books
Published: 2020-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Flo

It was our last exam and Lily was a no-show. English Lit was Lily’s favourite and I knew she wouldn’t have skipped it. There had to be something seriously wrong. For the entire exam I felt like something heavy was pressing down on my shoulders and it wasn’t just the whispering or the stares as I walked into the exam hall which triggered it. I could hack all of that shit. Dad was innocent and it was just a matter of time before they found the real murderer and he was released. I wasn’t going to think of all the fake stuff being said about him. I wasn’t going to think about the hug – I was remembering it wrong – it was nothing. No, what was really bugging me was Lily hinting she had a secret past and that Frank might know stuff which could prove Dad’s innocence.

The more I thought about what Lily had written on the paper towel, the more confused I grew. Was Lily really trying to tell me that she had something to do with Amelie’s murder? It was dumb – impossible. But ever since Lily pitched up at the hotel, Frank’s fat face was stuck in my head. Even while I was writing about the role of witchcraft in Macbeth, he’d been there, on a loop, strawberry juice oozing from his mouth.

After Frank and Lily had gone, me and Mum went back to the garden though I couldn’t face eating any more of the scones and jam.

“Mum?”

“Hmm.” She didn’t glance up from her magazine.

“Frank’s such a good bloke…”

“Hmm.”

“Remind me how you met.” All Dad ever said about Frank was well, I never, who would have thought it? The Prof of all people!”

Mum looked up. “Really?”

I nodded.

She shrugged, licked her finger and flicked to the next page of the magazine. “I first met him whilst Daddy and I lived in Oxford. It was just one of those funny coincidences that I happened to bump into him again a couple of years ago.”

Her phone rang and she snatched it up. “Cally, sweetheart, are you nearly here? Yes – I know, hilarious. How’s setting up the exhibition going? Are the Castle staff keeping my little treasure safe?” No talk of Dad. She stood up, rolling her eyes at me as though she really didn’t want to have this conversation, then walked across the lawn out of earshot.

That was all I was going to get.

***

Not really giving a shit that my mocks were over, I left Stella and the rest of the gang, swigging cider and vaping. I knew they were only trying to be kind, but I was already pissed off by their fake cheerfulness and clumsy change of subject if anything relating to Dad cropped up. It wasn’t taking my mind off the situation – it made me feel even more lonely.

Lily was the only one who I could talk to, but I swung from being worried about her to being pissed off; you didn’t just announce that you used to have a different life then vanish.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.